Thursday, December 13, 2012

NEW YORK (BP) -- Hurricane Sandy was a tragedy in the Northeast, but God used the life-altering superstorm to change the hearts of people in Rockaway Beach, a neighborhood in Queens, New York, from totally disinterested in the Gospel to yearning for spiritual guidance.

A couple of years ago, Larry Holcomb, director of Urban Impact, a ministry connected with a Southern Baptist congregation in New York, arranged for the purchase of a large old house in a rough part of Rockaway Beach, not fathoming what God would do next.

After renovating the beach house, Holcomb moved in bunk beds to house short-term mission teams coming to New York to help Urban Impact reach immigrants in the city through language and job training classes.

With a goal of launching Beach Church in the summer of 2013, Holcomb and others this past summer handed out about 5,000 invitations to Bible studies in Rockaway Beach.

"We went door-to-door, handing them out to people," Holcomb, a former North American Mission Board church planter, told Baptist Press. "We got less than a dozen responses. Through that, from the surrounding community, maybe five people had come to Bible study. So that was a ratio of 5 to 5,000. We knew it was a hard neighborhood. People don't have the time or the interest in spiritual things.

"But after the tragedy, we've handed out thousands of tracts and Bibles, and people eagerly say, 'Can I have this?' 'Can you please give me this? I need this guidance.' They're asking us for prayer and saying, 'Can you please come to my house?'

"It has really turned around the spiritual openness of the neighborhood, and where before we were slaving away to find someone who had any interest, now the problem is, How can we possibly have time to address these hundreds and hundreds who are asking us to help them understand the Bible and get closer to God?" Holcomb said. Read More

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) -- Although Southern Baptists have a long history of reaching and starting churches among Hispanics, changing demographics will require a new strategy, a North American Mission Board evangelism consultant has noted. Read More

MILWAUKEE (BP) -- Scripture does not require governments to redistribute wealth to help the poor, presenters in a session at the Evangelical Theological Society's annual meeting said this fall. Read More

"Public universities shouldn't force students to violate their religious beliefs to get a degree."

-- ADF's Jeremy Tedesco

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Eastern Michigan University has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a graduate counseling student whom it expelled after she declined to affirm the "sexual orientation" of a homosexual client because of her Christian beliefs. Read More

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Ministers are called and charged to feed the sheep, to tend the flock, and to guard the sheep entrusted to their care, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. said during the seminary's winter commencement Dec. 7.

The seminary awarded diplomas to 188 graduate and doctoral students.

"We celebrate today the call of God in the lives of those who graduate today, and in the lives and ministries of the thousands who have preceded them acr... Read More

The new church plants include seven language groups and two primarily African American congregations, joining the 241 new churches that Ohio Baptists have planted the past 15 years, reaching a total of some 700 churches in the state.

Luter challenged Ohio Baptists to share the Gospel with a lost and dying... Read More

DES MOINES, Iowa (BP) -- Iowa Baptists planted more than twice as many churches in the state this year than last, messengers to the group's 2012 annual meeting learned.

Church planters and others from across Iowa shared stories of their successes and evidence of God's power in their ministries.

"We are developing a culture in Iowa that understands that reproduction is natural and something every individual believer, church, association and cluster should be involved in doing," said Tom... Read More

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. (BP ) -- New England Baptists learned the latest news of their disaster relief outreach to survivors of superstorm Sandy and approved a partnership with a new Baptist college during their 30th annual meeting, Nov. 9-10 in Marlborough, Mass.

John Scoggins, one of the convention's DR volunteer leaders, told the 118 messengers in attendance that assessments were being done of damaged homes along the south shore of Connecticut. Scoggins also updated messengers on New England-... Read More

NASHVILLE (BP) -- This weekly Bible study appears in Baptist Press in a partnership with LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Through its Leadership and Adult Publishing team, LifeWay publishes Sunday School curriculum and additional resources for all age groups.

This week's Bible study is adapted from the YOU! curriculum.

Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 4

Discussion Questions:

-- How have you observed the culture distracting people from recognizing th... Read More

Formed in 1946 by the Southern Baptist Convention, and supported with Cooperative Program funds, Baptist Press (BP) is a daily (Monday-Friday) international news service. Operating from a central bureau in Nashville, Tenn., BP works with a large network of contributing writers, photographers and editorial providers to produce BP News.